1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire lead-in device for leading wires such as distributing cables of solar cell modules into a building from the upper side of a roofing material laid on a roof structural member.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present applicant has proposed a wire lead-in device (wire lead-in tool) for leading wires such as distributing cables from solar cell modules and an antenna cable from a television antenna into a building from the upper side of a roofing material laid on a roof structural member such as rafter and a roofboard configuring a roof of the building (See, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-266977). The wire lead-in device includes a main body and a cover. The main body has a box shape extending in the roof flow direction (inclined direction) and is opened upward and toward the eaves. The cover covers the upper opening of the main body. An insertion hole through which the wires can be inserted is formed in the main body of the wire lead-in device in the vicinity of an end portion at the ridge side. Further, the box-shaped main body of the wire lead-in device includes a flange-form mounting part extending from the longer side of the bottom portion in the direction orthogonal to the roof flow direction. The mounting part is mounted on the roofing material, so that the main body is mounted on the roofing material.
The above-mentioned wire lead-in device can lead the wires into the building from the upper side of the roof in the following manner. That is, the main body of the wire lead-in device is mounted on the roofing material such that the insertion hole is matched with a through-hole formed on the roofing material and the wires are extended into the building through the insertion hole in the main body and the through-hole from the opened eaves-side end portion of the main body. The wire lead-in device can prevent rainwater from entering the building through the insertion hole with the box-shaped main body extending in the roof flow direction.
The conventional wire lead-in device has the bottom surface of the main body, which is a flat surface extending in the roof flow direction. This arises a problem that the main body cannot be mounted on the roofing material when the roofing material formed by a metal plate (metal roof) or the roofing material having a bent part or a step with respect to the roof flow direction is used. To be specific, for example, when the metal roof is laid on the roof structural member such as the roofboard in a horizontal roofing manner, the metal roof is inclined such that a space between the metal roof and the roofboard becomes larger toward the eaves side from the ridge side when focusing one metal roof. When the wire lead-in device is mounted on the metal roof in this state, the inclined thin metal roof is pressed by the bottom surface of the wire lead-in device so as to be in parallel with the roofboard and the metal roof is largely bent by the eaves-side end portion of the wire lead-in device. If the metal roof is bent, there arises a problem that the strength of the metal roof is lowered. Further, in this case, there is a risk that a ridge-side portion (coupling part coupling the metal roofs) of the metal roof located at the eaves side is crushed by the bottom surface of the wire lead-in device. If the place is crushed, there arises a problem that waterproof performance of the metal roof is lowered significantly. For this reason, the wire lead-in device cannot be mounted, resulting in a problem.
Therefore, for example, there is a problem that even if a user desires to install the solar cell module on roof, the user gives up installing the solar cell module because the wire lead-in device cannot be mounted. Alternatively, there is the following problem. That is, the cost for installation of the solar cell module is largely increased if the roofing material is replaced such that the wire lead-in device can be mounted for installing the solar cell module. In addition, in the conventional wire lead-in device, the opening on the eaves-side end portion through which the wire is led out is formed over the substantially entire height of the main body. This arises a risk that rainwater enters from the eaves-side end portion.